Refrigerating apparatus



yA. c. STEWART 'l REFRIGERATMG APPARATS Filed-Nav. 5. 1923 Nov. 30 1926.

ATTORNEY Patented Nov. so, 1926.

` UNITED STATES ALFRED STEWART, OF PASADENA, CALIFORNIA..

BEFRIGERATING APPARATUS.

Application led- November 5, 1923.

This invention relates to a refrigerating apparatus adapted for the production of a refrigerating effect by expansion of a volatile liquid and the main object of the invention is to provide an eiicient, compact, and economical apparatus for this purpose.

A further object of the invention is to provide effective means for refrigeration by means of a mediu including both a volalo tile liquid and a carrier gas, including tivo media of different condensability, for example, a relatively volatile and a relatively nonvolatile liquid, so as to obtain the most effective conditionsfor compression and evaporation of the volatile constituents? In this connection'my invention providesfor compression of the volatile constituentl by utilization of a liquid as a compressing medium. A further object of the invention isto provide in a: refrigerating cycle, vmeans for compression of the volatile refrigerating medium by a rotary compressor adapted to operate at high speed and Without gears orv reciprocating parts so as to provide for ef-v iicient and substantially noiseless operation. The accompanying drawings illustrate 'an embodiment of my linvention and referring thereto: l Fig. 1 is a vertical section of the refrigerating apparatus.

'Fig 2 is a section on line 2-12 ofFig. 1.

The apparatus shownin the -dravving'comprises a compressor indicated at 1, cooling means indicated at 2, for cooling the compressed mediunn an expansion or refrigerating chamber 3 into which the refrigerating medium is released from the cooling means through an expansion valve 4, a separator chamber 5 in which the constituents of dii' vided with a central passage 10 and with a lurality of passages 11 extending outwardy, for example, radially from the central passage 10 and opening at their outer ends at the periphery of the rotary member 7 into the space 12 Within the casing 6 and cated at 9. Said rotary member T is pro-- Serial No. 672,83*?.

around the rotary member 7. The central ypassage .10, aforesaid, communicates with 4Which constitutes the intake of the pump or compressor as hereinafter described. iin outlet pipe 13 leads from the space 12 afore' said to the expansion valve l, the outlet connections as shown including the cooling means 2, surrounded by jacket 14. Tt is also preferred to provide for cooling of the compressor` for example,A by means of a jacket 15, enclosing the casing 6, suitable connections indicated at 16, 17. and 18, being provided for maintaining a flow or circulation of cooling liquid, such as Water through the cooling means 14 and 15.

The expansion chamber 3 is shown as a coil connected to the expansion valve 4 and enclosed in the chamberor enclosure 20 -which is to be cooled, the said expansion chamber being provided with an outlet 21 opening into the separatorchamber 5. From the lower part of the separator chamber an voutlet 23 for liquid leads to the aspirating means '2li which `may consist ot a Venturi tube into the contracted portion. or neck,

`of Which opens a tube or conduit 26 leading' from the upper part of the separator 5 so as to deliver the less condensable const-itu! ent of the re'rigerating medium to the Venturl tube at the point ot' minlmum pressure vso as to eiliect entrainment el. the said less ried. out in the above described appm'atus` in` anyV one of several Ways utilizing in each case the expansion, or evaporation ot a volatile liquid in producing the required absorption of heat. For examplen l may use .a mixture of tivo liquids or" diilierent volatility such 'for example as ethyl chloride, carbon tetra-chloride` rhigolene, or other liquid having a relatively lovv boiling point or high vapor tension and another liquid of .relatively lowvolatility such as wat-cr or brine. the said tivo liquids being immiscihle lil@ lili? or substantially insoluble in one another so that they will tend tovseparate when in the liquid phase. Assuming that such a mixn ture ot' liquids is introduced into the sepa* rator 5 and the pump 1 is set into opera tion, one or both oli the litptids will he withn drawn fromv said separator by the action will, be aspirateo of the pump and forced through the outlet- 13. f necessary storage means may be connected to said outlet to receive the compressed medium, for example, the cooling means 2 may be of suflieient capacity to act as a storage means. The expansion valve is sufficiently closed to restrain the outflow ot the compressed medium into the Arefrigerating coils or chamber 3, so that a condition otraretaetion (or at least at a pressure be` low that inthe cooling means 2l may be produced in said coils or chamber 3 and in the upper part of chamber 5. *Assuming that the chamber 3 and the upper part of chamber 5 are originally occupied by vapor of the ethyl chloride or other volatile liquid together with more or less air, such vapor with any gas, such as air mixed therewith through the pipe .20v and aspirator 2A into the pump and `will be entrained by the streams ot liquid passing Voutwardly in the passages il ol the rotary member 7 ot the pump, vand will be ejected into the compression chamber 12. the liquid passing through said passages l forming fluid pistons which exert suflieient pressure by centrifugal action to produce the required compression ot the vapor or gas so as to force such valeur or gas .through ine outlet 13 to the expansion vvalvevt and to the cooling and storage means Suchconipressed vapor is cooled. for example.` h v the water jacket means l5 and 1.4` so as to absorlothe heat developed by compression ot the rotary pump and ca use the vapor to condense to liquid condition. The resulting condensed liquid gradually escapes thro-ugh the expansion valve flwhich may be, a. needle valve ot ordinarv construction,

and as the liquid so escapes into the chamber 3 the volatile constituent thereoic evaporates. absorbing heat represented b v the latent heat of evaporation. 'lhe non-volatile constituent also passes into lthe chamber 3, which is so constructed as to permit such non-volatile constituent to flow as a liquid into the separator the construction being such that the liquid may tlow h v gravity through 'tho refrigerat-ing Coil or chamber and into the separator chamber. which is located below said retrigerating chamber.

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The Vapor produced from the volatile constituent occupies the upper part ot1 separator chamber 5 which is in communication with the aspirator pipe Q6. ln the case ot liquids whose boiling vtemperature is above the temperature 'required to be'estahiished in the refrigerator 'chamber it is desirable to maintain a condition ol` rare- 'if'action in said chambers fi and :i hv the operation ot said rotary pump so that the pressure in said chambers is suiiicientlv lou' to ensure that said volatile medium will he converted substantially Wholly to the Vapor phase. in the chambers 3 and lt, however,

the pressure is allowed to rise lsuiciently to cause incomplete vaporization of the. volatile constituent the. non-volatile constituent and the unvaporized portion of the volatile `constituentavill separate in the separator chamber liv reason ot their difference in speci'lio gravit)v and ot' their immiscibility and suchunvaporized portion of the relatively volatile constituent as may so accumulate in the separator chamber :'i may remain or may be drawn through the pipe 23 pipe 26 as the case may be.

As an alternative method ot operations retrige ating ni'eflium may be used comprising twoy 'constituents which are soluble in om` another for 'example a mixture of ammonia and water. and in that case the separator 5 will contain 'a body of water or brine with more or less` dissolved ammonia and a body-ot ammonia vapor or gas in the space above said body of liquid, the liquid being drawn through the inlet pipe 23' and the ammonia gas being' 'drawn through the inlet pipe 26 by aspiratingraction and compressed by the rotary pump 1 so that h v reason of the pressure it is caused to he dissolved in .the body of liquid constituting'a concentrated solution of am' inonia in "ater or brine. The heat evolved during such compression and absorption is removed by the cooling means l5 andld, and the liquid is delivered through valve or the 4 into the chamber 3 which is for example l at substantiallyatmospheric pressure so'that the ammonia will largely evaporate'or resume its condition as vapor or gas; producing the retrigeratingellect by absorption ot heat. The cooling eil'ect in this case is due tothe absorption ot heat which occurs when ammonia passes ont of solution into the vapor state.

.-lgnoihe'r method of operation may utilize a relativelv volatile liquid, for exampleialcohoh ethyl eliloride.' or any of the liquids above u'ienlioned. or even water (which is sutlicienllv volatile under suitable conditions of raret'a'ction and of air velocity) and a, substantially non-condensahle jgaseousmedium such as air. the liquid being any sutilcient quantity to aceumulateto Vsome extent in the separator 5 and inthe pump so as lo lorin the working medium operating b v centrifugal actionto compress the air and the vaporized portion ot the refrigerating inedinin.- the compression being suicient to cause condensation of the said medium in the ensuing cooling operation. and the total lili medium being released through valve 4 into or othei` non-condensable gas which may be present, and by suitably proportioning the amount oit air in the system to the amount of liquid present, any desired proportion of the liquid may be evaporated, whether such liquid be a readily Tvolatile liquid or a less volatile .liquid` such as Water.

The above described apparatus is also applicable for use `with a retriverating Inediiim consisting of a single liquid, for example, ethyl chloride, or any of the volatile liquids ordinarily used in an apparatus ot this charactier. By supplying a suitable amount of such liquid to the system the operation of the pump will result in continual evaporation and compression of a portion only ot' the liquid, the remainder of the medium remaining in liquid phase throughout the operation and serving as the liquid element for performing the aspirating and compressing operations above described.

n important feature ot the present invention is that all reciprocating parts and gears are avoided. the rotary pump being especially adapted for direct connection with a high speed electric motor and being substantially noiseless in operation so that the system as a Whole is especially adapted for domestic or similar use where'tiie ab with a corresponding eiciency of the re-` frin'eratiug operations as Whole.

What l claim is:

l. )i iet'i'igerating apparatus comprising a roi-ary compressor. acooler connected to the discharge side ot said compressor, a retrigerating chamber, an expansion valve between said cooler and said refrigerating chamber, a separator chamber connected to said refrigerating chamber toreceive material passing therethrough, a pipe leading from the lower part of said separator chamher to theintalte of said compressor, aspirating means in said pipe, and another pipe leading from the upper part of the separator chamber to said aspirating means.

2. A refrigerating apparatus comprising a separator chamber adapted to contain a relrigei-ating medium comprising liquid and vapor constituents, a rotary' pump, means tor conducting said liquid constituent fromV passages for receiving refrigerating medium and compressing the vapor 'constituent thereof by centrifugal action on the liquid constituent, means for receiving the retrigerating medium after compression and for lcooling the saine so as to condense the vapor constituent thereof, 4a refri erating chamber, an expansion valve control ing the escape of such compressed and cooled retrigerating medium into said refrigerating chamber, said refrigerating chamber being connected to the separator chamber so as to return both constituents of the refrigerating medium thereto.

3. A construction as set forth in claimv 2, in which the refrigerating chamber is located above the separator chamber and is so constructed as to permit the liquid constituent of the refrigerating medium to flow4 by gravity through said refrigerating chamber and into said separator chamber.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name this 24th day of October ALFRED C. STEVART. 

